Toys
by apelilly
Summary: Edain learns that toys just can't compare. AU. Be warned.


I've killed it. I know I have. Little Shannara is something else…Totally Alternate Universe. Enjoy?

Disclaimer: Terry Brooks owns it.

**Toys**

It was a well known fact amongst the other children that Edain Elessedil had the most toys.

If one were to enter his rather luxurious room, they would see shelves and toy boxes overflowing with things other kids could only beg their parents for. His father was the head of a very important company and therefore very wealthy. It also meant that Edain's father spent a lot of his time working at the office and needed to hire sitters for his son. Edain didn't care much for them though so he focused his time on the toys he received as a sort of 'Sorry I'm not around as much as I should be, but I hope this makes up for it' gift from the elder Elessedil.

Edain had been getting gifts like these since he was two years old and now that the boy was nine he had more playthings then he knew what to do with. They were fun at first, as all new toys were, but soon Edain grew bored of them or they had broken and then he would toss them aside, forgotten, before the newest one arrived. His teddy bear, for example, had given him hours of enjoyment. It was fuzzy and soft, but the face had been a tad lopsided. This had made the young boy giggle every time he had looked at the bear. The novelty had soon worn off, however, and then the plush creature was being stuffed into the toybox to make room for a stuffed cat with a bell that jingled.

The children Edain attended school with always asked him if they could play with the toys he didn't want anymore. His response had been no, they could not play with them because they were gifts from his daddy and he didn't want something bad to happen to them even if they were old and less fun than his latest one. That's when they began calling him selfish and refused to share things with him in class or play with him at recess.

Edain pretended not to be as bothered by it as he was, but still turned down the idea of letting them play with his things. After all, who needed friends when you had the largest amount of toys and games in town?

Then one day when Edain arrived at the park (his babysitter was sick and tired of being cooped up in the house all the time), he noticed another child playing in the sandbox; trying to make a castle. He almost didn't venture over, but all other areas of the playground were occupied by groups of children so he decided that one boy wouldn't be so bad.

As soon as Edain seated himself on the edge of the sandbox, ready to make his new Pink Ranger escape from 'the deadly quick sand', he was given a friendly greeting from the other boy. Edain took in his appearance and was slightly surprised to be reminded of an old, wind up soldier he used to play with. It had been blond with a big cheery grin painted onto its face. The boy in front of him looked similar and Edain suddenly felt sad that the soldier had ended up breaking.

"My name's Jair. I just moved here with my family. What's your name?" Jair looked at him expectantly, waiting for a name in return. Edain remembered that his old soldier hadn't asked him questions like that or came with a family of his own.

"I'm Edain," he said, "I'm here with my babysitter and to play with my Pink Ranger."

"Ooohh! You're so lucky. I've asked my mommy if I could have the Red Ranger, but she says I gotta wait 'til my birthday."

"Your birthday? Why?"

"She says I'll 'preciate it more. I don't know what that means, but mom's really smart."

"Oh."

"Can I hold your Pink Ranger for a minute, please?" Jair asked, bouncing and grinning.

Edain frowned and shook his head, "No you can't. It could break."

Jair's smile disappeared but only for the briefest of moments and then it was back again, "Okay! Do you wanna help me build my castle instead? My friend Garet told me building things takes more than one person, but he still plays on the monkey bars instead of helping."

The young boy blinked, not comprehending Jair's words. "Wait…I wouldn't let you play with my toy…but you still want me to help you?"

"Uh huh!" he nodded his head excitedly, "See, we need a mote to keep out intr…intru…bad people. It'll work 'cause they can't swim and—"

Jair continued chattering happily while Edain moved closer and sat down beside him, still confused. His brows furrowed as he tried to understand why the other boy still wanted to play with him. The other kids at school didn't ask him to build sand castles or a mote with them. They always wanted to know about the toys his daddy bought him. This new boy only seemed to care about having fun together though and kept smiling at him like his old soldier used to do…

Edain produced a smile of his own and hoped he wouldn't break like the soldier had because he doubted his father could buy a new Jair.

"—now we're gonna need a guard!"

"Huh?"

"A guard!" he repeated with a pout, "In case bad people that swim want inside our castle!"

Edain's small face scrunched up in thought as his eyes searched over the sandbox for a would-be guard. They settled on his Pink Ranger and Edain nodded in approval, "Pink Ranger can be our guard."

"But what if it breaks?"

"Pink Ranger is tough. Bad people that swim don't stand a chance!"

Jair grinned, "Okay! Let's hope my birthday comes tomorrow so Red Ranger can help at our next castle!"

"Okay." Edain placed the figurine carefully next to the castle and grinned back before helping Jair dig the mote.

Then next day a brand new kite was given to Edain and he decided he would let Jair play with it when he came over, but only the other boy and only because he and Jair were friends now.

It soon became a well known fact that Edain Elessedil thought his best friend was a lot better than any toy.


End file.
